


Here

by Rockingham



Series: The Space Between Us [3]
Category: Choices: High School Story: Class Act (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Long-Distance Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockingham/pseuds/Rockingham
Summary: She stares at the ticket in her hand.Why was she his emergency contact?Honestly there was no reason Brian would add her as anything, but for some reason she was the one who got the call about his trip to the hospital. Maybe part of her was just curious why she was the one called, the other part, a very small part, was a little worried. Despite not getting along and having not spoken to each other in years, Brian was still her brother and there was a part of her that was worried about this injury.Skye sighed.This was probably a bad idea.





	Here

Skye’s foot taps impatiently as she sits in her last class late Friday afternoon. She’s been at Carnegie for almost a full semester and things felt like they were going well. Her and Bailey had virtual date nights at least every other Saturday. Her grades were good and she managed to keep up with her phone screen repairing side hustle to earn a few hundred dollars a month for any other charges.

Her technology professor ends class early and Skye gathers her things and leaves the room. Humming to herself as she made her way out of the MCIC building and headed towards her apartment that she shared with her two roommates.

It’s about a fifteen minute walk from the MCIC building over to the Shirley Apartments building. Skye hiked up two flights of stairs to the third floor, the sounds of loud talking or laughing from the other floors as she pulled her key out of pocket and stopped in front of room 317. She hears the sounds of the TV on as she walks into the common area of her apartment.

“Hey Skye!” One of her roomates, Kimi, yells from her spot on the couch. Kimi was the louder and more outgoing of the three roommates. She kinda reminded Skye a bit of Rory with her friendly and cheerful personality. Her and Skye had bonded over fashion, often going shopping together.

“Hey,” Skye dropped her keys into the dish at the front door before making a beeline for the bedroom. The reduced rate triples at Sherry required the students to live in one-bedroom apartments, three to an apartment. The bedroom was set up with a bunk bed on one side, where Kimi and their other roommate Katherine slept, and a top bunk on the other side with one of the desks underneath, where Skye slept and had set up her work space. Katherine had her desk set up in the bedroom as well while Kimi seemed to prefer working at the kitchen table. Easy access to snacks.

Katherine wasn’t back in the dorm yet, so Skye had the room to herself for a while. She unpacked her books and set up her laptop. She could get a jump on her essay before the weekend so she’d have more time to talk with Bailey tomorrow when they video chatted.

“Hey Skye,” Katherine called as she stepped through the bedroom door. Katherine was more quiet, she and Skye shared a similar goth style and love for theatre. “You have a package down in the mailroom.”

“Okay, thanks.” Skye got up and took the slip from Katherine. Usually since the mail room was in the student hub next door, they nominated one person to pick up mail for all three. They each had the combinations for each other’s mail boxes, the only thing they couldn’t pick up were packages as they were held by the mail staff and required student ID to pick up.

Skye heads over to the student hub, the campus bustling more than usual with the upcoming weekend. Sports teams were heading either to the football field or gym while other people packed their cars for weekend trips.

Skye enters the student hub and down the stairs to the mailroom. There’s only one student running the desk and no line so Skye walks over and flashes the delivery card. The older student takes it and turns to go through the packages. 

In the meantime Skye goes through her head to try and remember what could have come. She had ordered a book for a class, but that wouldn’t come for another few days. Mrs. Silva and Mrs. Jenkins sometimes sent her care packages, which Skye had told them multiple times they didn’t have to do… but in the same breath she had a weakness for Mrs. Jenkin’s blackberry linzer cookies.

When a rather large box is placed on the desk in front of her, Skye gives the guy on the other side a confused look.

“Here ya go.” The guy grunted when she didn’t immediately go to take the box. “Crandall comma Skye right?”

“... Right.” Skye gave the guy a look before going to lift the box, only to find that it was not only big, but heavy. The guy looks like he’s about to offer to help when she manages to heave the box up into her arms and starts going back out the way she came.

After a sweaty hike back up three flights of stairs to her room, Skye kicks her boots against the door for one of her roomates to let her in. Kimi swings the door open, tilting her head at the large box.

“What’d you buy Skye High?” Kimi asked as Skye trudged back into the room and rested the box on top of the coffee table.

“Nothing this big.” Skye commented as she fished her pocket knife out of her pocket and cut through the tape on the box. She opens the box to reveal a ton of colorful shredded paper covering a variety of things. On closer inspection Skye noticed that the large box was in fact a care package, but not a homemade package that she usually got from Mrs. Jenkins or Mrs. Silva. This was one of those expensive pre-made care packages that could be ordered online. On top of the mass of treats was a card. Skye opened the light blue envelope to reveal a colorful card with owls all over it.

As she opens the card and several hundred dollar bills fall into her hand as she moves it aside to read the card.

The second she reads who the box is from her heart stops. She shoves the bills back into the card and tosses it onto the table.

“You want it?” Skye asks suddenly as Kimi shifts through the stuff.

“Huh?”

“Take it.” Skye turns on her heel and retreats back to the dorm as Katherine walks out, she gives Skye a look as Skye slips past her before continuing to the living area.

Skye hops up to sit on her bed leaning back and trying to ignore the nausea starting up. She closes her eyes for a second trying to subdue the panic that had flared in her chest. After a few minutes of surrounding herself in quiet she hears the door creak open. 

“Hey... “ Kimi called before Skye feels a nudge at her ankle as her feet dangled over the edge of the bed, “you okay?”

Skye just lets out an annoyed groan as she tosses her arm over her eyes. Her roommates knew a little bit about the broken relationship she had with her parents. Skye didn’t go into detail, but she had to mention that her and her parents were not on speaking terms when Kimi had over-enthusiastically started asking her questions during the upcoming Family Day on the campus. She had told them about her getting kicked out after high school ended and how she spent the summer living with friends before she came to Carnegie. 

“You should at least take the money.” Kimi said as she held up the card that Skye had left on the table.

“I want nothing from them.”

“Okay, but they gave you quite a bit to try to win you back, you should at least use it to surprise your girlfriend. You could easily get a round trip ticket with it and still have some left over.”

Skye sits up and raises an eyebrow at her roomate.

“I peeked, sorry, I was curious who the box was from.”

Skye hesitates for a moment.

“Cash isn’t traceable it’s not like they’ll know what you spend it on.” Kimi rolled her eyes, “Treat yourself and your girlfriend. I’m sure she’d love to have you surprise her with a visit.”

Skye sighed and took the card back. Kimi grins as she does.

"Now that we've covered our bases, it's your turn to cook dinner."

Skye rolls her eyes and hops off the bed, slipping the envelope into her desk drawer because making her way to the kitchen with her roommate on her heels.

______________________

It's almost ten at night when Skye sees her phone light up with an incoming call on her desk. She had stayed up late to knock out an essay that was due Monday so she had more time tomorrow to chat with Bailey on their virtual date. When she doesn't recognize the number she swipes the screen to send the caller to voicemail.

Kimi was out with friends still, she usually didn't strut back in till 3 am, pocket full of cash from her designated driver jobs and a grin on her face.

Katherine was sleeping, she had an early shift at the library the next morning, she was usually a heavy sleeper so Skye was free to work at her desk while she slept.

Her phone buzzes a few seconds later with a notification that the caller left a voicemail. Curious, Skye picks up to phone and heads to the living room to see what the caller wanted.

"Good evening Miss. Crandall this is Jennifer Lee from University Health Services at Notre Dame. I am calling to inform you that Brian Crandall was taken to Memorial Medical after an injury he sustained. As his emergency contact we wanted to inform you about the-"

Skye stopped listening. She pulls the phone from her ear and stops the message, scrolling over and hitting the call back icon on her phone.

After a few rings someone picks up the phone.

“Notre Dame University Health Services, how can I help you?”

“Yeah, I just got a call about my brother, Brian Crandall?”

“Yes! I’m sorry for calling you at such a late hour, but your brother had to be taken to the hospital and it’s protocol that his emergency contact be contacted. I can give you the number of the hospital if you like?”

“What happened?” Skye asks as she yanks a pen from the cup on the kitchen table and grabs a napkin from the holder.

“Oh, he fell during a physical therapy session. Hit his head pretty hard.”

“Physical therapy?”

“Yes, from his knee injury from football a few weeks ago.” The girl on the other end stated as if it was common knowledge. Skye just stays silent. “Miss Crandall?”

“Right yeah, so this hospital?” The girl rattles off the hospital info and Skye takes it down on the napkin. Once she hangs up the phone she looks through the train schedule to see if there’s a train she can take to get to Notre Dame. To her luck, there was one train that left from the Amtrak station that went straight to Notre Dame… At midnight. Skye sighed and grabbed her bag, throwing some stuff into it seeing as she would be on the train for almost eight hours. She writes a quick note to her roomates and grabs a couple of the hundreds from the card her parents sent her, just in case.

The Amtrak Train station was a familiar place, Skye had used the trains several times since coming to Carnegie. For a college student with no car it was the easiest way to travel to surrounding areas fairly cheap. It helped that the Pittsburgh station was charmingly old and small.

She takes a seat after buying her ticket, having some time before the train showed up. Her mind reeled at all the new info that had been thrown at her. It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that her parents might be there. If Brian was hurt, there was a chance that her mother would be coddling him, her father writing checks for whatever Brian needed.

She stares at the ticket in her hand.

Why was  _ she _ his emergency contact?

Honestly there was no reason Brian would add her as anything, but for some reason she was the one who got the call about his fall and his trip to the hospital. Maybe part of her was just curious why she was the one called, the other part, a very small part, was a little worried. Despite not getting along and having not spoken to each other in years, Brian was still her brother and there was a part of her that was worried about this injury.

Skye sighed.

This was probably a bad idea.

______________________

Skye wasn’t a stranger to all-nighters. But an all-nighter on a train was a different kind of hell. Her back hurt and her hair was a mess from leaning on the seat different ways trying to get comfortable. The only thing that kept her from looking like a complete slob was the dark beanie keeping her hair somewhat tame. It’s almost eight in the morning by the time she gets off the train and walks towards the address scribbled on the napkin. She adjusts her beanie as she walks through the hospital lobby towards the front desk.

The receptionist gives her a strange look before directing her to her brother’s room. Skye takes a breath as she steps off the elevator, the closer she gets to the room the harder her heart seems to pump in her ears. She hadn’t spoken to her brother since he went off to college. Since that their interactions had been minimal. Even when Brian was home on college breaks, she was either working or hanging out with her friends or Brian was at the gym bulking up for whatever sport he was playing that season.

The door to his room is open and Skye listens for the high pitched voice of her mother or the growl of her father. It’s pretty quiet and Skye takes a final breath before ducking in. 

Brian looks up from his magazine, his forehead wrapped in a bandage and a brace on his knee. Her appearance seems to startle him for a second because he doesn’t say anything for a moment.

“You look like crap.”

Yup. Almost three years of not talking had built up to this moment. Skye snorts and looks around, her parents nowhere to be seen and no evidence of any visitors in the room. 

“Nice to see you too.” Skye grumbles as she takes a few steps into the room. An awkward silence follows.

“Why are you here?” Brian asks with a frown.

"I got a call from Health Services at Notre Dame.” Skye mused, shoving her hands in her pockets. 

“Surprised you gave a shit enough to come.” Brian scoffed. He puts his magazine down on the side table as he leans back crossing his arms.

“Well, if you don’t want me here I can leave.” Skye offered as she crossed her arms to mimic her brother’s stance, “I’m sure mother and father will be here soon.”

It’s meant to assure him, but the vindictive tone in Brian’s voice catches Skye completely off guard.

“Fuck you.” Brian barks at her, “You’re probably enjoying this! Couldn’t wait for me to fuck up huh?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” 

“You expect me to believe you came here out of the kindness of your heart?” Brian’s voice raises, “You just came to gloat! I bet your happy to finally be the better kid!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Skye asked, irritated, after a moment she remembers the care package. The money burning in her wallet and the treats handed off to her roomates. 

“Don’t play fuckin’ dumb! I bet they already bitched to you about how I ended my football career.” Brian’s voice has gotten much louder and Skye’s sure the rest of the floor can hear him. A nurse pokes her head in the room. “Admit it! You couldn’t wait to see me down and out. I bet they told you all about how I could never play again and how I was losing my football scholarship.”

“Brian-”

“Please keep your voices down.” The nurse finally speaks up, “There are other patients that are trying to rest.”

Brian huffs at the nurse looks over at Skye a moment before walking away. The two are silent for a moment.

“Why am I your emergency contact then?” Skye asked awkwardly, “If you didn’t want me to show up-”

“I didn't think you would. The last thing I needed was mom or dad finding out I got hurt again. It’s bad enough they cut me off this month but now I gotta watch them drool over you.”

"Why would they? I don't do anything they care about. That's your department."

“Don’t act like you care, if you fuckin’ cared you wouldn’t have left.”

Something about that comment hits a particular nerve. Skye narrows her eyes and feels her anger build.

“Do you really not understand  _ why _ I left?” Skye asked emotionlessly, her anger causing her voice to take a lower octave. “I left because I was tired of being treated like crap. I was tired of being smacked around. I was tired of having to lie to doctors about why I had a cut in my hand or a broken wrist. I was tired of being slapped every time I got ‘out of line.’ I got tired of being around people who told me every day that I was an embarrassment and a mistake. I didn’t leave because I didn’t care, I left because I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Skye leans closer, her voice taking on a particularly serious tone, “Mother can send all the cards and money she wants, I will  _ never _ go back.”

Brian stares at her for a moment as if he didn’t believe her. The two stare down for a second before Brian rolls his eyes.

“You always did have thin skin.”

“And you’ve always been an entitled douchebag.”

Brian frowned. 

“You’re really fucking mean you know that?”

“I’m really  _ fucking _ tired.” Skye scoffed as she copied her brother’s language. “Eight hours on a train will do that to you. Now, you never answered me, do you want me to leave? Because the next train doesn’t leave until midnight.”

“Why would you stay with someone you hate.” Brian asked, “Do you even want to be here?”

_ Yes _ , Skye wants to say in the most sarcastic way possible,  _ I took a train for eight hours because I can’t stand you _ …

“I don’t hate you.” Skye says instead. Brian looks up at her with a suspicious look. “I don’t like you either.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Maybe because your my brother, and despite how I feel I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Brian laughs, the kind of stuffy sarcastic laugh he did whenever he made fun of her.

"You haven't changed much." Brian snickers, "but I guess you can stay. Might be nice to have a visitor that's not that grumpy nurse."

______________________

Skye can’t take her brother in larger doses, so she goes to get coffee and offers to bring him something back after he complains about hospital food. Skye had to agree with him, it didn’t look great and she did feel a little bad for him after his speech about how their parents had cut him off and refused to stay with him through the three surgeries he needed on his knee after the accident. He practically ranted to her for half an hour about everything that had happened.

It must be hard not to be used to their parents cruelty.

She had planned to take a nap or something after going on her coffee and breakfast run, however, the second she got back into the room, Brian started talking her ear off.

“It was completely illegal! They were just pissed they were losing so they went to play dirty. That linebacker came out of nowhere and the next thing I know I’m waking up in this dump.”

Brian had been chatting about the game, his injury, and his surgeries for the last hour. Skye was long past exhausted but Brian didn’t seem to notice as he continued. 

“Dad flipped his shit the second I woke up.” Brian growled. “Something about embarrassing him because he had some hot shot recruiter come over to watch me play. He did that thing were the vain pokes out of his neck? Like when he screamed at you after that thing with the Prescott’s son when you wouldn’t dance with him at that gala?”

“Yeah?” Skye’s pretty sure that night ended with her being slapped across the face and called a whore by her very drunk father but she wasn’t going to play a tit for tat game with her brother.

“He yelled like that for thirty minutes! It was ridiculous.” Brian snorted, “Then I had to deal with mom fussing over me, till dad told her to knock it off because I was a disappointment and I had made him look bad.”

“I don’t know why your so surprised by this.” Skye finally said on her verge of exhaustion. “They’ve always been like that. You just stayed on their good side longer.”

“But-” Brian tried to argue, “But I’m not the family freak! I don’t make trouble like you did!”

“Yup, I’m trouble.” Skye grumbled trying to get comfortable in the hospital chair, figuring if Brian was going to keep talking she might as well try to drown him out. Brian seems to quiet down for a moment.

“I’m gonna take a nap, don’t make too much noise.” Brian scoffed as Skye let out a weak hum of acknowledgement. The uncomfortable hospital chair becoming a sanctuary after over 36 hours without sleep. It doesn’t take long for Skye to completely pass out.

______________________

“Skye!” 

Skye jerks awake at her name, blinking back the groggy feeling as she sat up straighter on the chair.

“Do me a favor.” Brian starts with an expectant tone, “Go to my dorm and get me a new shirt, I kinda bled on mine and Doc says I can go back tonight.”

Skye just stares at him for a few seconds, trying to process the request.

“I don’t know where you dorm is.” Skye hoped for a second that her brother would drop it and let her go back to sleep, but no such luck.

“I just texted it to you.” 

Skye takes her phone out of her pocket and looked at it… Her nap only lasted about an hour, so how her brother thought she’d be functioning enough for any task was a mystery.

“Don’t you have a roommate who can get it for you?”

Brian flashes her an annoyed look. 

“No, I live in a single.” Brian says after a minute. 

“But you don’t have any friends who-”

“I’m telling you to do it.”

Skye glares at him, there was no way she was going to be bossed around by her brother after taking an eight hour train ride and running around all morning for him. 

“And I’m telling you; I’m not going to.”

Brian actually looks shocked, like he wasn’t expecting her to say no. Skye leans back in the chair, making it clear she had no intention of moving.

Brian continues to stare for a moment,

“But-” Brian stammers and Skye goes to cut him off before another word leaves his mouth.

“If you need it so much, why can’t you ask one of your football friends to get it for you?”

Brian doesn’t answer he just scoffs and turns away. After a few moments he turns back.

“Can you  _ please _ go do that for me?” 

Brian says “please” like most people say “venom.”

Skye tilts her head, unused to hearing it from her brother. 

“I’ll… pay you back for the train ticket to get here… and the coffee.” Brian then gestures to the bag with his clothes. “My wallet’s in my pocket. You need my ID to get into the dorm.”

Skye’s a bit dumbfounded by the offer. After a moment of thought she figures at the very least she could grab a fresh cup of coffee to try to keep herself up a bit longer on the way to the campus. 

“...Fine.” Skye stood up and walked over to the bag, finding Brian’s wallet loose with the other belongings, she’s half-expecting her brother to argue, but he does no such thing. She’s a bit surprised when she sees an old photo of Zoe in his wallet when she goes to open it. He has a stack of twenties forced into the wallet along with several credit cards, student ID, and several wrapped condoms.’ 

Skye took two of the twenties, the student ID and put the wallet back. She heads out the door and takes out her phone to see the text from her brother with the address of the campus, the address of the dorm building, and his room number.

______________________

Skye takes the bus to the campus, the sun is starting to go down and Skye really doesn’t want to be out alone at night in a place she isn’t familiar with. Hopefully this would be quick and she could get back to the hospital, hand everything off to Brian, and then go catch her train back to Carnegie. Notre Dame is different, the campus buzzed with activity as Skye walked over to the dorm building, new coffee in her hand.

Skye uses her brother’s ID to swipe in and heads to the elevator to go up to the floor where his dorm was. There are people hanging out in the lounge on his floor when she steps off the elevator and she’s instantly uncomfortable as she notices a few people look over at her as she makes her way down the hall. As soon as she finds Brian’s room she inserts the ID into the card key slot and opens the door.

As soon as she walks in she’s assaulted by the harsh smell of Brian’s body spray and old sweat. The room is a mess and there’s laundry piled on the desk, sports equipment scattered throughout the room and an open six-pack of beer on the floor.

Skye chokes on the smell for a second before making a beeline for the closet with the idea of grabbing the first thing she saw and getting out of there. As soon as she grabs a clean looking T-shirt her phone starts to go off in her pocket. She looks down and sees her brother’s name flash across the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hey, can you do me another favor?” Brian asks. “Can you bring down my laundry to the laundry service desk?”

“You mean that disgusting pile on your desk?”

“Hey! I’m on crutches! It’s a pain to bring everything down to the laundry room.” Brian complained with a scoff. “It’s only been sitting for like… two weeks… It can’t be that bad.”

“Oh, yes it can.” Skye scoffed and looked over to see an already half-filled laundry basket, “This room is disgusting, what the hell do you do in here?”

“Lift weights and girls.” Brian offered in a cheeky tone that had Skye gagging into the phone. “Come off it, you can’t tell me you haven’t done anything dirty with your girl toy.”

“Are they unconscious? Jesus Brian, who the hell would come in here?”

“Why are you being so mean? I’m the injured one here! I’m asking for your help, can’t you just do this for me while your there? Just drop if off and come back here with my shirt.”

“I’m not your  _ mother _ and I’m certainly not going to coddle you like she does.” Skye almost yelled back into the phone, “We haven’t talked in almost three years. Where do you get off trying to tell me what to do? What are you going to do if I say no? Go tell mother on me?”

Brian’s silent on the other line.

“I’m coming back in a few minutes,” Skye grumbled with a sigh before hanging up the phone. She eyes the mess again and shakes her head. Her brother would learn nothing if she just gave up and did things for him. He had to learn how to do these things without Mother coddling him or Father insisting that all things like laundry or cleaning were a “woman’s task” which Skye had heard him say many times. 

Maybe this accident would be good for Brian.

Skye sighs, before turning to leave the mess, stopping when she feels her phone vibrating in her pocket. She whips the phone out fast, ready to shut her brother down before he can give her another stupid request.

“What the fuck do you want now?” Skye barks into the phone without thinking. The other line is silent for a moment.

“Skye?” 

Skye feels herself pale for a second at the familiar voice of her girlfriend on the other line. She quickly pulls the phone away from her ear to check the time.

She had completely forgotten about her and Bailey’s virtual date.

“Skye, are you okay?” Bailey asked with a concerned and stuned voice. “I’ve...never heard you curse like that before. Is something wrong?”

There is a lot wrong right now, Skye’s completely unprepared for the conversation and she really doesn’t want to explain the hell that’s been her last twenty-four plus hours. 

“I’m… I just need a break.” Skye groans into the phone. She runs her hand through her hair and lets out an exaggerated sigh, “I’m really tired, can we talk about this later?”

Bailey hesitates again on the other line. Skye can tell she’s disappointed about Skye’s sudden cancellation of their date.

“Okay.” Bailey sounds upset, and Skye knows it’s warranted. She should have texted Bailey earlier, should have told her before she called and got cursed at for no reason. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Skye felt worse, her heart ached a little from how she messed this up for her girlfriend. “I’ll call you later.”

The line goes dead and Skye feels like screaming.

______________________

Skye can’t spend another minute with her brother, she’s done and wants to just go home, sleep and then call back her girlfriend. She’s marching down the hall toward her brother’s room when she hears him talking to someone.

“Come on dad! That’s not fair.” Skye stops short, listening in as she hears her father’s voice as if it was coming through a speaker.

“What’s not fair is how humiliated I was.” 

Skye peeks through the door and sees her brother face-timing on his phone, looking clearly distraught.

“But you already took away this month’s allowance, what am I supposed to do? I need money to eat!”

“That’s not my problem, I don’t spend money on investments that don’t give me my money back, so why should I invest in a son that can’t do anything for me?”

“Dad, please, I’m sorry.” Brian actually sounds like he was tearing up, the sound startles Skye a lot as she’s never seen her brother cry. But seeing him begging their father for help was the most distraught Skye had ever seen him.

“I don’t have time for your apologies, I’m sure your sister has done something more worth my time and money.”

Something in Skye’s sleep-deprived head snapped. She crosses the room in even strides, startling Brian for a second before she rips the phone out of his hand, turning the screen to see her father’s snide face quickly morph to surprise.

“Don’t ever contact me again.” Skye growls lowly catching both her father and brother by surprise. “Take your money and shove it, I want nothing to do with you.”

Skye ends the call bluntly and passes her brother back his phone as well as the shirt.

“When do you get to leave?”

“Uh, I can sign out after the nurse clears me.” Brian explained, still giving her a stupefied look. “Dad’s going to be pissed with you.”

“Name a time when he wasn’t mad at me for one reason or another, I’m used to it.”

Brian doesn’t seem to know what to say to her. After a few minutes the nurse comes in with a few documents that Brian needs to fill out before he can leave and go back to his dorm. After he changes into his clothes the two leave the hospital. It was close to eight by the time they were all cleared to leave and the doctor had come in to talk to Brian about everything.

“I’ll walk you to the train station.” Brian offers as he maneuvers his crutches in the direction of the station. Skye doesn’t argue and the two walk slowly and quietly towards the direction of the train station.

It’s dark out and Skye can’t wait to get back to her dorm and crash on the couch until her roomate wake her up to see if she’s still breathing.

“That was kinda cool.” Brian admits after a few minutes. Skye turns to him a little confused. “How you stood up to dad.”

“Thanks,” Skye offered when they turned the corner. The train station was a bit of a walk, and Skye knew she’d be waiting a few hours on top of that before her train come. At least she could get a decent coffee at the station before leaving.

“I guess it’s good you didn’t drop off my stuff at the laundry service.” Brian mutters, “It’s not like I can pay for it now.”

“It’s cheaper to do it yourself you know,” Skye points out, “What is it? A dollar to run the machine and a little more to use the dryer?”

Brian shrugged. Skye figures her brother never set foot in the laundry room. Skye on the other hand had been doing her own laundry since she was about ten and her mother insisted that Skye should learn and be forced to do her own stuff since she was clearly not going to wear what her mother wanted, her mother wasn’t going to wash her “ugly” outfits.

“It’s not hard, you can figure it out.” Skye insisted, her brother seems to think for a second. 

“Maybe I should try a smaller batch first.”

Skye felt a little bad and goes into telling Brian the basics of doing laundry. As they get to the train station, Brian stays with her as the two chat about the things that Brian was paying people to do that she would have to do herself. He ends up staying with her until about half an hour before her train is scheduled to leave.

“Thanks,” Brian comments as he turns to leave, “I guess I’ll talk to you later, you know, when I mess up and turn all my clothes some weird color.”

“If you manage to do that I will laugh at you.” 

“Heh,” Brian throws a half-smile over his shoulder, “Deal, try not to die on your trip back.”

“Thanks.” 

______________________

Skye crashes on the couch as soon as she steps through the apartment. Her backpack hits the floor almost as hard as she hits the couch before going into a willing black-out for the next ten hours. She wakes up around seven in the evening to Kimi prepping dinner in the kitchen and talking with Katherine.

“She lives!” Kimi yelled when she notices Skye move. “We were starting to think you’d died there.”

Skye grumbles and checks her phone, seeing the battery almost dead. She pushes herself off the couch and heads to the room to plug her phone in and grab a change of clothes.

“Dinner in thirty! We wanted to wait for you to wake up from your coma!”

“Thanks, I’m going to jump in the shower quick, you guys can start without me.” Skye called as she hooked her phone up to the charger and grabbed a change of clothes.

“KK” Kimi called as Skye closed the bathroom door. 

Skye feels much better after a shower and a decent meal. She’s still exhausted so she heads to bed after helping Katherine with the dishes. She checks her phone to see no new messages. She remembers yelling at Bailey and instantly feels guilty again. Bailey had no idea what was going on and was probably confused and hurt about everything. 

Next week was Thanksgiving break, Skye hadn’t planned to go home that week because of the cost. Plane tickets from Pittsburgh to home were typically $500-$700 per round trip. She had budgeted to go back for the long Christmas break and save the rest of her money so she could afford to visit for Spring break as well as a long weekend next semester.  But with the extra money her parents gave her-

Skye opens her laptop and looks up available flights and smiles when she sees one of the airlines she used was offering a cheap rate for Wednesday flights out. She books an evening flight on the Wednesday and an afternoon return flight Monday afternoon.

She made a note to deposit the money her parents gave her into the bank the next day after class as she prints out the info and goes to bed.

______________________

Skye doesn’t mind long layovers during the long nine to ten hour plane rides. She usually used the time to stretch her legs. She had a three hour layover in Denver, which worried her a bit since it was colder and snow was expected. She didn’t want to flight to be delayed. 

She wonders if it’s snowing in Cedar Cove. Bailey always loved the snow. 

She uses the layover to call Mrs. Silva and let her know she’s on her way home. 

______________________

It is snowing in Cedar Cove, just a light flurry that adds to the few inches that already on the ground. Skye steps off the bus and starts walking towards the suburban area. Bailey was probably excited for the long weekend, playing in the show. It about eight in the evening so Skye figures Bailey would be home from UCLA by now. She walks up the recently shoveled path to the front door. Hesitating a moment before she knocks on the door.

There’s footsteps before the door swings open. Bailey stares at her with a surprised look.

“Hey.” Skye greets awkwardly after a few moments of silence. The greeting seems to snap Bailey out of her trance as she throws herself at the other girl, wrapping her arms tightly around Skye’s shoulders. It knocks Skye off balance for a second before she returns the embrace, pulling Bailey tightly against her.

It’s like remembering Bailey all over again, her scent, her warmth, everything about her hits Skye like a truck. After what feels like hours she feels Bailey pull back slightly a moment before she feels a hand tangle in her hair and pull her into a needy kiss. 

It’s like the world around them stops existing, the only thing that exists is the warmth of Bailey’s lips on her own. The scent of her shampoo and the heat of her body against Skye’s are the only things Skye wants to think about.

Bailey eventually pulls away, brushing her nose against Skye’s before pressing their foreheads together. The two stand like that for a few moments in complete silence.

“Hey,” Bailey says with a giggle. The two stand there in the light snow for a few more minutes until Casey comes to the door to see what was keeping his sister.

“Not to break up this beautiful reunion.” Casey teased through his laugher, “But you two will catch colds if you stay out there.”

Bailey pulls away, taking Skye’s hand as she lead her into the house. Erin and the Jenkins say their hellos as they notice the new addition, rushing over to wrap Skye in a giant group hug before they start asking her questions about her time at Carnegie, her roommates, everything.

She feels Bailey tugging on her hand as she’s bombarded with questions, her thumb rubbing against the metal of the promise ring on her left hand. After a few minutes of questions and hugs Bailey tugs Skye away and up to her room. As soon as she pulls Skye through the doorway she spins on her heels and presses another kiss to Skye’s lips.

“I’m really happy your here.” Bailey admits with a smile, “I’m surprised, I thought you said you weren’t going to be able to come back?”

Bailey looks down for a second, “And you seemed really stress out last week.”

Skye tugs Bailey closer, wrapping her arms around her waist and pressing her face into her neck.

“It’s a long story.”

Skye recounts the entire story as the two sit on Bailey’s bed in each other’s arms. Bailey running a hand through Skye’s hair as she spoke. 

“That’s a lot.” Bailey murmured when Skye finished her story. “At least your parents did one thing right. I mean you wouldn’t be here with-EEP!”

Bailey jumps when Skye’s teeth scrape against her neck, 

“I’d advise you don’t finish that sentence.”

“Okay, okay,” Bailey laughs as she shakes her head, “So what’s going to happen now? With everything?”

“I don’t know.” Skye muttered, “They’ll either run back to Brian or try to buy me back.”

“What about with you and Brian?”

“I’d like to think not having our parents would be a reality check for him. I had to text him how to do laundry the other day because he somehow turned all his T-shirts purple the first try.”

Bailey giggles and Skye smiles at the sound. 

“Come on, we better get back downstairs before Mrs. Silva decides to give us a speech on inappropriate conduct.”

“Her speeches are kinda funny.”

“They’re also really embarrassing,” Bailey shrugs as she tries to move out from under Skye’s embrace. “Skye,”

“Five more minutes.”

“Okay, but only because your cute.”


End file.
